Police Blotter

Former superintendent's son arrested

Columbia County authorities arrested the son of a former Richmond County schools leader Wednesday following a brief chase with police.

Charles Derrick Larke, 28, the son of former Super­intendent Charles Larke, was charged with fleeing and attempting to elude police, entering an automobile with the intent to commit a theft, and several traffic charges.

An Evans man called authorities just before 5 a.m. Wednesday claiming someone broke into his 2001 Chevrolet Surburan. The man said he woke to his vehicle alarm going off, according to a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

As he was checking on his Chevy, he saw two men get into a dark-colored sport utility vehicle and leave.

The man said the passenger window of his SUV was broken and a wooden box containing subwoofers was stolen.

Soon after the call, deputies located the suspects’ SUV on North Belair Road. When a deputy attempted to stop the Ford Explorer, its driver fled and led police on a brief chase into Richmond County.

Deputies arrested Larke at the scene, where the subwoofers were found inside the Explorer. The Explorer belonged to a sheriff’s office employee, who was not involved in the incident, Capt. Steve Morris said.

Authorities are trying to identify the second person involved in the theft, Morris said.

Larke, of Conifer Circle in Augusta, has a history of arrests dating back to 2004, when he was charged with making a false report of a crime and entering an automobile with intent to commit theft. In 2005, he was arrested for shoplifting and dogfighting, a charge that was later dropped. He’s also been charged and sentenced for violating probation.

Most recently, Larke was charged in April with three counts of theft by receiving stolen property and three counts of financial card transaction theft.

Larke is being held in the Columbia County Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.

The following accounts were taken from reports from The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. Additional reports are available at www.columbiacountyso.org:

Man says lawn vandalized with chemicals

A Grovetown man called authorities Monday claiming someone used chemicals to create obscene drawings in his lawn.

The 47-year-old said on June 3 that he noticed markings on the front yard of his Great Falls home near the street. When he arrived home at about 7 p.m. Monday, the man said he realized the markings were a penis drawn in the grass with chemicals.

The previous week, the man said he noticed a rose bush was wilting, but he didn’t know why. After seeing the lawn drawing, the man said he believes it was sprayed with chemicals.

Woman arrested for cursing at deputy

A deputy arrested an Augusta woman early Wednesday because she wouldn’t stop cursing at him. Ashley Joan Marlow, 20, of Fenwick Street in Augusta, was charged with disorderly conduct.

At about 3 a.m., a deputy responded to a hit and run wreck with injuries on the Interstate 20 off-ramp at Horizon South Parkway. Marlow and another woman in the car told the deputy that a man in a white car sideswiped their vehicle and they both claimed to be injured.

Damage to the vehicle showed the car was hit from the opposite direction the women claimed. When asked about the discrepancy, both women said they didn’t know what happened and blamed each other for the sideswiping story.

Marlow, who was strapped to a gurney in an ambulance, unstrapped herself, got out and refused treatment. The other woman also changed her mind about her injuries. Marlow became irate and started cursing and yelling. She continued despite being told multiple times to calm down and quit cursing.

The women became uncooperative and refused to tell the deputy what happened other than to say the car started bouncing and they didn’t know why. Both denied initially saying another car sideswiped them and blamed each other. The deputy only found slide marks in the grass near the off-ramp, but there was nothing for the car to hit.

Marlow cursed again and the deputy told her she’d get a disorderly conduct citation. She replied, “Fine,” and cursed again as the deputy walked to his car.

Marlow was released from the Columbia County Detention Center later Wednesday after posting a $500 bond, according to jailers.